As Good As Gold
by Taliesin-niseilaT
Summary: What were Jack and Brian doing before Sandra and Gerry called them that night? A 'Police By Day' outtake.


_Because I love DISCONNECT, chapter 7 of my longer fanfiction Police By Day, very very much, I decided to write a one-shot Police By Day outtake. It is about Jack and Brian, set during Disconnect, and it will probably make no sense at all unless you've read Police By Day. Enjoy._

**-**

**AS GOOD AS GOLD**

'Who'd have thought, eh Mary?' Jack said. 'Sandra and Gerry.'

He was in the garden by Mary's grave, like most nights.

'Though of course I'm not so sure that they're still together at this point in time... She seemed angry in the pub. Brian told me that that psychiatrist they were going to see got quite nasty with Sandra. I do hope they sort it out – of _course _I do, Mary, how could I not? I'm not blind, you know. I've known since the first time they met! Yes, surely they hated each other at first sight, but they've always had that chemistry, which has slowly turned into something more.'

-

'We're working on the most _fascinating _case,' Brian told Esther while she was cooking dinner.

'Are you,' Esther said with the same level of polite disinterest she always had when Brian talked about cases.

'Yes! An eighteen-year-old boy, murdered in the middle of the night... nobody saw anything or heard anything. No fingerprints, no DNA, no enemies as far as we know... it's virtually impossible!' Brian was always very excited about impossible cases.

'I'm very happy for you, Brian,' Esther said, stirring in a cookpot distractedly.

'And you know what?'

'Probably not,' she muttered.

'Gerry and Sandra are together.'

'Are they? That's nice- did you just say Gerry and Sandra are together?' Esther stared at him, her cooking completely forgotten.

'Yes,' Brian said, glad he had finally gotten her attention.

'But... how... _when _did that happen?'

'Last night. Yes, I know. Jack and I were surprised too. But I suppose it was bound to happen sometime.'

-

Jack was dreaming.

-

_He was with Mary. They were walking along a beautiful, sun-drenched beach. He looked at her and marvelled. Was she not dead after all?_

'_Mary, love. I thought I was never going to see you again.'_

'_How could you believe that, Jack? I'm here, and you're here. Now...'_

-

The phone rang and tore the dream apart. Jack sat up, looking around dazedly. 'What the...' he muttered. Where was the beach? Where was Mary? Eventually he caught on and reached for the light switch. His phone was on the bedside table, ringing. He answered it without looking at the number, and tried to say something but found himself yawning instead.

'Jack?' A familiar female voice.

'Sandra? It's after midnight! What's wrong?' He rubbed his eyes, still half asleep, but worried about Sandra.

'Jack, I miss him.' _She must be kidding. This is what she wakes me up for?_

'You're calling the wrong person, Sandra. Call him. _Before _you go mad.'

'But – what if he –'

'He was devastated by the way you froze him out. He cares more than you know, honey. Call him.' He put the phone down and drifted back to sleep.

-

Brian was reading the case file in bed. Esther was trying to go to sleep, but found it wasn't easy because Brian kept nudging her and making remarks. 'Did you know the original investigation never even asked Julian Swan's parents about girlfriends?'

'Did they actually _interview _these parents?'

And in the end simply: 'Bloody amateurs.' Esther was almost relieved when the phone rang downstairs, though it probably meant there had been a breakthrough and Brian would have to rush out straight away. 'I'll get it, love.' He got up and left. As soon as he was gone, Esther shoved the case file neatly off the bed. 'Good riddance!' she said and tried to go to sleep now she had the chance.

-

Brian picked up the phone and was temporarily distracted by the notepad, that someone had moved half an inch to the right. He corrected its position carefully and then heard Gerry's voice in his ear.

'Brian?' _Now what?_

'Gerry, what the hell are you calling _me_ for at this time of the night?'

'I miss her.' _I'm hardly the world's most renowned relationship therapist. He _must_ be desperate._

'I repeat my question. Why are you calling me, and not her?'

'I can't. She doesn't want – or need – me around.'

'The hell she doesn't. Now call your woman and let normal people sleep. Goodnight.'

-

_I can't BELIEVE this_, Jack thought grumpily as the phone rang again, pulling him from his sleep once more.

'Hey, Jack.' Brian sounded very cheerful.

'Brian? What is this, everybody calls everybody tonight? Esther hasn't left you again, has she?' Jack realised full well this sort of remark wouldn't go down well if Esther had actually left Brian, but he suspected it had nothing to do with that.

'No, I just got a telephone call.'

'Oh? Who was it?'

'Gerry. About Sandra.'

'Tell me about it. I was dreaming of my Mary...'

'Gerry called you as well?'

'No, Sandra did. I told her to call him.'

'And I told him to call her. Do you think they'll sort it out?'

'I hope so, or they'll both make our lives hell tomorrow.'

'Good point. Night, Jack.'

'Night, Brian.'

-

'Who was it, Brian?' Esther asked as he came back in. Brian completely ignored her question and yelled: 'My case file! What have you done with it?'

'It's on the _floor_, Brian. No harm has come to it. No worries.'

'No worries? What if something got misplaced...' He picked the file up and started checking that everything was there. When he had checked three times, he was finally satisfied and got into bed. He smiled in the darkness as he thought of the phonecall he just got, and of Sandra and Gerry.

-

Sometimes, working at UCOS was definitely as good as gold.


End file.
